Minister of Foreign Affairs Gideon Sa'ar discussed the hostage deal on Wednesday at the Great Synagogue of Rome with the local Jewish community before shortening his visit to Europe and returning to Israel.
"We are probably before a hostage deal. And I want to be very frank with you and honest. It's a very hard decision. When you decide on the release of so many terrorists, including murderers, who killed Jews - and it's not the only dimension of the agreement - it's not an easy decision," Sa'ar stated.
He added: "Leadership is about deciding between a bad decision and a very bad decision. But here it is a very, very tough decision that the Israeli Cabinet will have to accept. But we have a commitment. We have a commitment to our brothers. We have a commitment to our sisters.
"We have done our utmost and brought home the majority of the hostages, but 98 of them are still there. If we postpone the decision, we don’t know how many of them will survive. So, we have to make a very tough and painful decision."
Sa'ar concluded: Also painful for victims of terrorism in Israel. Painful for all the citizens of Israel. But the responsibility for the citizens who were kidnapped from their beds on those days and the commitment of the government of Israel to bring them home will direct us."